Chapter 183 : Coaching Side Effects
Chapter 183: Coaching Side Effects
“Will Master call us too?”
“Of course he will. He subtly hinted at it.”
“Right?”
“Right!”
“Master is the best!”
While countless personal broadcasters were scrambling to become even potential participants, there were those who maintained a relatively relaxed attitude.
Those who were confident they wouldn’t be left out if Baek Woohyun was forming a raid party—most notably, the Beau-tiful Twins.
The two had already received subtle hints from Baek Woohyun while filming their ‘Hack Disciple’ content, so they were strongly confident about participating in the raid party.
Even those chattering in communities about who would join the Hackphysical raid party never failed to include these two, so what more needed to be said?
“At times like this!”
“We must do our very best!”
Of course, the Beau-tiful Twins didn’t slack off just because their participation was half-confirmed.
If they were that type of people, Baek Woohyun would never have brought them along for the ‘Hack Disciple’ content in the first place.
The twins reviewed Baek Woohyun’s teachings and did their utmost to hone their skills, preparing for the moment he would call them as raid members.
⊙ But aren’t pros participating?
With an issue this big, they could subtly get involved
Even retired players would work ㅇㅇ
-There’s possibility
-I think the ones doing personal broadcasts now will apply
-Active players are probably too busy preparing for the league
ㄴWhat if Nikki does another secret guest thing? ㅋㅋ
ㄴㅅㅂㅋㅋ That would be legendary ㅋㅋ
ㄴBoth Nikki and Battler?
-The wishful thinking above is going wild ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Some community users thought that now that things had gotten this big, pro teams or pro players might secretly covet participation in this raid party.
Even if it was difficult for active players, they said it might be possible for retired ones who occasionally ran personal broadcasts.
The surprising fact was that their speculation contained some truth.
“This is seriously worth applying for, isn’t it?!”
“They’re estimating at least a hundred thousand viewers? There’s no reason not to do it?”
“Contact the players right away!”
As with all sports, E-sports also existed because of fans, and pro teams based on ‘Reverse Planet’ were no different.
For pro teams that created iTube channels for fan service and conceived and executed new content, this opportunity was extremely appetizing.
If things went well, they could even do a full collaboration with the ‘Hack Tour’ content, and use it as an opportunity to bring Baek Woohyun into their team, right?
“Hmm. A no-correction raid…”
“I think it might be a bit difficult.”
However, the players who actually received the proposals responded lukewarmly. There was a sense of hesitation, like “I want to do it, but will this actually work?”
That made sense, since the minimum requirement to participate in Baek Woohyun’s story missions or this raid was ‘being able to perform your role reasonably well even at 0 percent correction.’
To meet this requirement would need practice time grinding all the way to the raid, but doing PVE practice when the pro league start was approaching?
‘If we mess up the league because of that, oh boy.’
‘Pro players should focus on the pro league!’
It was a difficult choice for pro players who would be heavily criticized by fans if they didn’t perform well, and could even be pushed out of the starting lineup in severe cases.
Unless they had enough skill to spare time on other practice and were confident they wouldn’t be pushed out even during a slight slump as a solid starter—
“Hackphysical will call us too, right?”
“Hmm. Probably.”
—For instance, like Nikki Lee Yeonwoo and Battler Kim Hyeonjun, who happened to be world-class players and were active as starters on the prestigious pro team DH Empire.
The two who received the raid participation proposal from DH Empire’s front office naturally gathered together and were chatting about whether Baek Woohyun would invite them or not.
Actually, since both their opinions were unified that Baek Woohyun wouldn’t call the strongest among his connections(?), it was hard to call it chatting.
“Hmm.”
Suddenly Lee Yeonwoo looked at Kim Hyeonjun with droopy eyes.
It was a gaze that felt extremely unpleasant.
An indescribable sense of annoyance, one might say.
“…? What’s with that look?”
“No~ I had a direct match with him, talked with him, and even got a pro offer, so my chances of being invited are high, but I was wondering if you’re the same, hyung.”
“What!”
To the shocked Kim Hyeonjun, Lee Yeonwoo shrugged his shoulders quite brazenly.
“Honestly, isn’t that right? Everyone will wonder if you’re worthy of being invited by Hackphysical, hyung.”
“I also had a match with Hackphysical!”
“You were hiding your identity then.”
“We agreed to fight again next time!”
“So did you fight again when he was setting records?”
“Urgh…!”
Kim Hyeonjun’s best counterarguments crumbled helplessly before the truth that Lee Yeonwoo casually pointed out.
In the end, Kim Hyeonjun, at a loss for words, could only roll his eyes around.
Because their connection had been truly superficial, there was no more evidence he could bring up.
“Damn it.”
Even without properly examining it, everyone knew that Lee Yeonwoo’s claim was more plausible. So much so that even Kim Hyeonjun himself couldn’t properly refute it.
In reality, Baek Woohyun and Kim Hyeonjun had only fought once during the PVP ‘Survival’ mode, and even their conversation ended with just an exchange about fighting properly next time.
The story was that there was quite a high possibility Baek Woohyun wasn’t even properly aware of Kim Hyeonjun’s existence. Since he had been just an anonymous participant at that time.
If he had succeeded in sniping during the record-setting attempt, he could have declared, “The person who fought you then was me, Battler!” But he had failed at that too.
Baek Woohyun might think DH Empire’s recent content proposal was his first contact with Kim Hyeonjun. With roughly fifty-fifty odds.
It was a world of difference from Lee Yeonwoo, who had revealed his name directly, fought at the exciting moment right before record-setting, and even made a public scout offer.
“Ah, but you don’t need to worry too much, hyung!”
“Trying to comfort me now—”
“If I get picked for Hackphysical’s raid party, I’ll recommend you at least once!”
“—You little…!”
In front of Kim Hyeonjun, who looked like he’d been hit, Lee Yeonwoo grinned. It was a smile dripping with wickedness, showing he would never miss this opportunity.
Of course, even if he was a cherished younger brother and reliable teammate, Kim Hyeonjun wasn’t one to just take such insubordination lying down.
He erased his frustrated expression in an instant, then with a stiff, expressionless face—the state fans commonly associate with ‘Battler’—he shouted firmly.
“What raid!”
“…?!”
“Is the pro league a joke? We don’t have time to waste on PVE practice! We’re starting special training right now!”
“Wow, you’re really being petty, hyung! Just because you won’t get invited alone, you’re doing this?!”
“Tsk, be quiet!”
As for the two pro players showing brotherhood more brotherly than actual brothers, as always.
Regardless of when the recruitment announcement was made, the [Lord of Storms] public raid couldn’t help but be scheduled for somewhat later.
This was because even to perform one’s share—or even half a share—at Hackphysical difficulty, meaning 0 percent correction, tremendous practice was needed.
Therefore, the [Lord of Storms] public raid had to have a practice period one way or another. Time for the raid members to adapt to no correction as well.
Baek Woohyun had also heard from Jeong Nayeon that it would be good to practice according to the public release countdown and try attempts starting about 2-3 days before.
Therefore, what was most important right now wasn’t the public raid, but the SSR Cup event tournament that was now imminent.
“……”
Baek Woohyun slowly and calmly examined the members of Team All-In who had gathered again for practice.
It was a gaze trying to thoroughly check those he had directly taught… or rather, it would be more appropriate to say ‘created.’
Now that the exhibition of works he’d made through multiple practice sessions was approaching, he needed to quickly correct any misaligned parts.
“Hahahaha!”
-Why is he like this? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-He’s happy no one’s complaining about his build ㅋㅋ
-They used to donate like crazy telling him to use different builds for PVP, but yesterday he didn’t get a single one ㄷㄷ
-Anyway, he scraped his way to Gold~ Let’s have a drink~
First, Lee Sihu, the hooded man who had been stuck in Bronze tier after insisting on using Kim Hana’s ‘Storm Guardian’ build.
After Baek Woohyun’s touch, he had risen to Gold tier and was flying through the sky riding the wind in the practice arena where everyone had gathered, laughing away.
As could be seen from the viewer chat, he was fully displaying his improved mood since he hadn’t received build backseat gaming during yesterday’s PVP broadcast.
His current tier was even Gold tier, having risen two tiers from Bronze. It could truly be called remarkable growth.
Unlike the Beau-tiful Twins, he was evaluated as having scraped his way there, but still, shit-colored Bronze had become gold-colored Gold, so where was the problem?
Since Baek Woohyun’s boast about reaching Platinum tier still remained, his mood must literally be ‘flying through the sky.’
“Hahahaha!”
-So when are you coming down ㅅㅂㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-He’s been laughing and flying around for ten minutes ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Is a side effect of Hackphysical’s coaching becoming insane? ㄷㄷ
-Are you crazy ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
‘Well, this one’s fine.’
Baek Woohyun, who had taken his eyes off Lee Sihu, looked at another Bronze duo member, the Bronze-style build All-Master Dodo.
Unlike Lee Sihu, who was flying around the sky riding the wind and bursting into mad laughter, he at least had his feet on the ground.
However, if you asked whether he was in a normal mental state, that wasn’t the case either.
“It’s Gold! Gold! Sparkly and shiny! I like gold the best! What about you all!”
-Are you that happy about hitting Gold
-“It’s Gold, Gold” ← If I hear this one more time, no lie, it’ll be the ten thousandth time
-Give back the old Dodo, Hackphysical!
-Is this that famous Gold syndrome
Unlike Lee Sihu who had been a ‘Storm Guardian’ build one-track life, Dodo had handled multiple builds, so it took somewhat longer to hit Gold tier.
Since combat methods tailored to various builds were needed, the story was that the wedges Baek Woohyun needed to hammer in had to be that much more numerous, delaying it. Anyway, he did hit it though.
Specifically, he had hit Gold tier just last night, and he was still engulfed by the excitement—the so-called ‘Gold syndrome.’
“It’s Gold! Gold! Me hitting Gold! If someone had told me a month ago, I wouldn’t have believed them!”
-“It’s Gold, Gold” ten thousand times achieved ㅊㅊㅊㅊㅊㅊ
-Wow ㅊㅊㅊㅊ He actually did it ten thousand times ㅊㅊㅊㅊㅊㅊ
-This guy’s as crazy as Lee Sihu
-Is Hackphysical’s coaching really okay?? I’m worried;;;
‘This one’s fine too.’
If Jeong Nayeon had known Baek Woohyun’s inner thoughts, she probably would have shouted, “What exactly is fine! Calm them down right now!” But unfortunately, she didn’t have mind-reading abilities.
So Baek Woohyun could give Lee Sihu, who was laughing while flying around, and Dodo, who had Gold syndrome, a ‘normal’ stamp and look at someone else.
Namely, Yoojeu-Yoojeu, who had been subtly clinging behind him since right after gathering in the training ground for practice and had no intention of separating.
“……”
“……”
-Why is she here again ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Info) Yoojeu-Yoojeu wants to be controlled like a puppet. Hackphysical did that for her
-Whatwhatwhatwhatwhat
-She was a doll that won’t separate from the puppeteer? ㄷㄷ